Rhum J.M VSOP

Since my audience here is primarily whiskey drinkers, as am I, I'm writing from that perspective. Here we go! While many of us have a "home spirit" of sorts, be it bourbon, rye, scotch, etc., we will eventually find ourselves growing weary of our preferred spirit and start taking a closer look at those aisles at the liquor store we frequently breeze past. I've found myself engaging in that trope these past four or five months, burned out on pandemic whiskey consumption. I find myself drawn more and more to the rum and tequila aisles, where $60-$100 to play gets you some of the most complex and nuanced spirits of that category, whereas that would barely be scratching the surface in the single malt world. Foursquare rum (not featured in this review) is sometimes called a "Bourbon drinker's rum" or "the Pappy of rum". If that's true, then rhum agricole vieux (literally "aged agricole rhum") is (if I may venture a bold claim...) a scotch drinker's rum. Bottled at 43%, it pours a nice copper/brass color into the glass. It could almost be mistaken for bourbon at this point. The nose is something entirely different. The barrel notes show up, as in a bourbon, but theres a peculiar aroma, somewhere between fresh cut grass and a freshly minted penny (I grew up in Denver and there were frequent school trips to the US Mint...). The palate begins much like a bourbon barrel-aged Speyside or Highland single malt. Smooth on entry with some barrel character up front (Compass Box Spice Tree comes to mind), but it quickly translates into something quite different, with the grassy notes returning from the nose mingled with whisps of pineapple, light tobacco, and pecan. Baking spices of ginger and allspice round out the palate, leaving a light tingling sensation that covers the tongue with reminders of the grassy, brassy agricole sensation. This expression is the middle child of the Rhum J.M. core sipping line, which takes their labeling from French brandy producers. I suspect the V.O. offering scales back the barrel and amps up the grassy agricole notes, while the X.O. offering does the opposite. I look forward to trying both. I bought this unsure if I would like it and didn't want to shell out $75 for the X.O. in case I disliked it, which fortunately isn't the case! If you're getting into rum/rhum, definitely don't pass up aged agricole rhum if you're a single malt fan or a fan of wheated bourbons. Cheers!

Nose: Maple syrup, caramelized sugars, baked banana, orange liqueur. There’s an aroma of old, old oak cask similar to that which I find on some armagnac. Roasted coffee beans, rye spices (fennel, eucalyptus), toffee and even a touch of gentian. Deep within the foundation aromas there is an herbal grassiness typical of all rhums agricole, but here it is well hidden behind some excellent barrel aromas. At first glance you could easily mistake this for a rye or a rye-heavy bourbon. Palate: Sweet and herbal in the arrival. Spicy notes again typical of rye or some bourbon, but then it changes. The development sees the agricole heart assert itself – cinnamon, clove, ginger, caraway and aniseed before the sage and bitter herbal notes surface. Green cane stalks can be visualised, swaying on the periphery. The texture is full but not cloying - quite dry but not at all tannic but with an herbal astringency. Finish: Long. Oaky, spicy and just a little briny. Your first smell of this can easily fool you into thinking it is a slightly unusual bourbon, but the more you get into it the more you think it is rye, and then finally not a whiskey at all. The palate is an even faster transition through the same impressions, starting with familiar whiskey notes but very rapidly moving into dry, spicy rum territory. There is a faint smoky quality to the profile but I had this rum previously, some years ago, and it was a lot more prominent then. This current batch, while less smoky, has more barrel tannin. I like this a lot, but then I particularly dislike cloying, sweet rum and this is the very antithesis of that. It’s not quite as interesting as aged high-ester Jamaican or Trinidad rums and it's not as elegantly balanced as anything coming out of Foursquare. However it has a fine, dry and spicy aged agricole character. Just be warned that if you are new to agricole rum and your taste runs more to the sweet profile of Appleton, or something balanced like Foursquare, or the very syrupy sweetness of Diplomatico or Zacapa then you will probably not enjoy this at all. “Very Good” : 86/100 (4 stars)

It smells like caramel and a little bit of fireworks, but also alike honey with a hint of lemon. The caramel is like and there's also a little cinnamon on the nose. The caramel is a bit too light and sweet, but otherwise the flavor really comes together. The richness is really nice with an appropriate amount of smoke. There's some interesting orange and mild red fruit note that I really like. This is a great choice for scotch lovers. Cocoa makes a nice appearance too. The smoke might be a bit too strong here for many, but it is well balanced by the sweetness. There is some cinnamon flavor and a big dose of pepper. There might be a little grassiness but it is minimal and there is no vegetal presence. It's hedonistic and very enjoyable. The alcohol is probably a bit too pungeant and the complexity and depth could be a bit greater, but it's still very good. I do get a bit of lemon (but it's mild) on the palate. It's rich and fairly complex, but also on the tart side a little bit. It has that sort of reposado character of complexity and richness without being terribly strong. There's some spicy cinnamon and clove with cherry that is nicely reminiscent of Cognac, though the smoke exceeds Cognac. There's something bitterly and aromatically herbal in it that is really nice.

VSOP lacks any age statement I could find on the bottle. Website says that it’s aged 3 years, then rested for an additional year in a combination of different barrels and is then blended before being bottled. Feels more concentrated and has a lot more depth and richness compared to the VO. It’s a progression of what I found moving from the Gold to the VO, but only seems to have added layers of complexity woven in. Very nice sipping rum, here. But I wouldn’t be above a Ti’ Punch here, either!

Nose: vanilla, exotic fruits, sweet spices, vegetal notes, little bit of alcohol (needs some air to clean it out) Palate: wood, vegetal notes, cinnamon, has some body, ginger, bit more strength than what you would expect from a 43% Finish: spicy, looong, sweet and bit of smoke, some grassy notes in the background, bit dry

It’s ok. Got the funkiness typical of agricole rum. Not much going on the nose with faint fruit barely noted on the alcohol. On the tongue it not very sweet with strong herbal notes. Would pass on this one.